First pictures of new city centre green space - 'Symphony Park' - set to open in time for summer

This is the new green space set to open in Manchester city centre in time for summer.

'Symphony Park' is part of the Circle Square development which has replaced the former BBC site on Oxford Road.

The joint venture between Bruntwood SciTech and Vita Group is set to bring 1,700 homes and two hotels as well as huge amounts of space for retail, leisure and businesses.

And in the centre of the neighbourhood is a significant new public space, with two large green lawns and terraces surrounded by more than 100 trees.

At each end of the lawns, the terraces climb to provide informal seating or an amphitheatre for live music and theatre performances.

The space will be for people to enjoy picnics as well as arts and culture performances (Bruntwood)

Under the terraces, there will be access to amenities including 'Hello Oriental', the new pan-Asian food hall set to open beneath the South Pavilion.

But as the latest images show, Symphony Park will be a much-needed green space to simply sit down and relax.

In the original Circle Square planning application, it was described as 'a green canvas that can accommodate a variety of scalable uses: from yoga to picnicking; theatre, culture and the arts to simply relaxing and people watching.'

"The green is dominated by two sweeping curves forming the tear-drop shaped lawns, raised from the main pedestrian thoroughfares and bookended by two steep lawned terraces that sit above the access down to thesubterranean Pavilion.

An avenue of trees will run either side of the green space (Bruntwood)

"The Green will be the focus of the development and will provide a significant new green space in the city centre."

Designers say the park will have 'a feeling of openness, but will be enclosed at canopy levelby a green foil of the Ribbon tree planting.'

'The Ribbon' describes the avenues running either side of the park with trees, seating, lighting, planters and cycle parking.

The Circle Square development is set to provide more than 1,700 new homes as well as office and retail space (Bruntwood)

In a tweet posted earlier this week, Circle Square developers said: "Our extraordinary neighbourhood has transformed over the past few months, with our first customers moving into No.1 Circle Square, and new residents already enjoying life at Vita Living.

"Symphony Park will be ready in time for summer, we'll see you on the green!"